2026 FCT Polls: The winners, losers in grassroots battle 

On Saturday, 21 February, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) conducted elections across local council areas in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). 

A total of 637 candidates with two women from 17 political parties are contesting 68 positions — 62 councillors and six area council chairmanships were on the ballot for the grassroots polls,  an election observers described as “distinct” from polls in other LGAs across the country’s 36 states. 

Data on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)’s portal reveals that there are 680,415 registered voters across 62 wards expected to participate in the polls: covering Abaji, AMAC, Bwari, Gwagwalada, Kuje, and Kwali.

Abubakar Abdullahi of Abaji Area Council and Christopher Maikalangu of AMAC, both representing the All Progressives Congress (APC), were incumbents seeking re-elections. 

YIAGA Africa, an election observer group, stated that the polls were marred by logistical delays, low voter turnout and isolated cases of vote-buying.

For instance, the minister of FCT, Nyesom Wike during a monitoring exercise tour, decried low voter turnout in the election. 

“It is unfortunate in the city that you have a very low turnout, but in an off-cycle election like this, it is always the case. What is important is that the election is peaceful, no violence,” he said.

Despite the recorded incident of voter apathy, APC won five of the 6 seats while the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won one seat in the polls. 

Western Post examines the elections in the FCT and presents key findings. 

Abaji 

INEC, Nigeria’s electoral umpire, declared Abubakar Abdullahi of the ruling APC the winner of the chairmanship election for Abaji Area Council in the FCT. 

Muhammad Usman, who presided over the polls in the area council,  announced that Mr Abdullahi was returned to office after securing a total of 15,535 votes.

Loko Angulu, the flagbearer of the Young Progressives Party (YPP) came second with 5,357 votes.

Sokodabo Bilyaminu of the PDP followed with 4,547 votes while the candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Aminu Sadiq, got 53 votes. 

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) candidate, Mohammed Ibrahim secured 37 votes.

Kwali 

Daniel Nuhu, also  a candidate with the APC, won the Kwali Area Council chairmanship election with 17,032 votes.

Leading the majority of the wards in the local council, he floored Haruna Pai of PDP who polled 8,575 votes. 

Olympus EJue, a professor, made the announcement at the Kwali’s collation centre on Sunday morning.

Here, over seven candidates cleared by the electoral commission INEC battled the Kwali Area Council chairmanship election. 

They are Mr Nuhu of the APC; Haruna Pai of the PDP, Bandoji Jeremiah of the ADC, Agada Ojonugwa of the ADP, Yakubu Dogara of the APGA, and Umar Yakubu of the APM.

Others are: Kari Hassa of the NNPP; Obiako Patrick of the Action Alliance; among others. 

Bwari 

In the BwariIn the Bwari  Area Council chairmanship election, Joshua Ishaku of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was declared the winner. 

Mohammed Nurudeen, the INEC returning officer for the council, said he declared Mr Ishaku winner after he secured 18,466 votes. 

Meanwhile, the candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) scored a total of 4,254 votes to come second in the election while that of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) polled 3,515 votes. 

According to reports seen by Western Post, the chairmanship election was conducted in 10 wards of the council such as Igu, Shere, Dutse, Ushafa, Byazhin, Kuduru, Kubwa, Usuma, Bwari Central and Kawu.

Kuje 

With a wide margin of over 1,400 votes, Danjuma Samuel of the APC emerged victorious at the Kuje Area Council chairmanship election.

Nkiruka Odoh, a professor serving as the returning officer for INEC, declared him the winner of the election following the collation of results. 

The APC candidate, Mr Samuel, secured 17,269 to defeat his closest opponent, Zakwoyi Danlami of the PDP, who polled 15,824.

Mr Samuel, who won with a 1,445 vote margin, also won six of the 10 wards to defeat the PDP candidate.

Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) 

The electoral commission, INEC declared Christopher Maikalangu of the APC as the elected Chairman of AMAC.

The Collation Officer for AMAC, Andrew Abue, said that Mr Maikalangu, who is the incumbent AMAC chairman, was returned elected, having scored the highest number of votes cast, 40,295 out of the total number of Valid Votes of 62,861 in the election.

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) came second with 12,109 votes, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) polled 3,398 votes.

According to Mr Abue, a professor, the rejected votes are 2,336, and the total valid votes are 62,861, while the total votes cast are 65,197.

He added that the number of registered voters in AMAC was 837,338, while the total number of accredited voters was 65,676.

Gwagwalada 

PDP’s Mohammed Kasi, won the Gwagwalada Area Council Chairmanship election in the FCT in a surprising turn of events. 

Western Post reports that Gwagwalada that the APC lost out of the six local councils he contested. 

Announcing him as the winner on Sunday morning, Philip Akpen, the returning officer of INEC, said that Mr Kasim secured 22,165 votes to clinch the feat. 

He defeated Yahaya Shehu of the APC who polled 17,788 votes while Biko Umar of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) scored 1, 687 as the third highest.